What it’s really like to be a nutrition student

In case you’ve ever thought about a career change - from someone who is doing just that.

Photo: Instagram@thefitfoodieblog

If I’m not eating, I’m thinking of my next meal. If you love food (who doesn’t!?) you have probably wondered what it would be like to study it. When you have a keen interest in something, it’s a natural progression to focus on it full time. So what are the options for a ‘real’ job in food? Chef, restaurant owner, food writer? Or maybe you’ve thought of food from the perspective of wellbeing? In that case, say hello to a path to nutrition.

I started out in life with no clear idea of what I wanted to do. I loved food, but it never crossed my mind there could be a career in it. Fast forward 10 years post-useless management degree, and I’ve found myself a full-time food blogger turned cookbook author, running my own health food business, and instagramming as many matcha lattes as I can get my hands on. That ride has been amazing, but I feel like it’s time I deepened my knowledge. It’s all well and good telling everyone I eat all the kale, but can I say with any authority why it’s good for me? No. I can certainly regurgitate info I found online, but let’s be honest, there’s a reason you can’t quote Wikipedia for…well, anything.

Having truly experienced what it feels like to go from processed to whole foods, and now a total health nerd, I decided to take the plunge and enrol part-time as a Nutrition Student at Endeavour College – an institution known for their holistic approach. Naively, I had expected (read: hoped) to be taught the ins-and-outs of different diets, and perhaps even look at scientific evidence for and against the approaches. I thought there would be info on digestion, stomach acids, and why sometimes, certain foods make us bloat. Perhaps we’d even go deeper into specific Branch Chain Amino Acids (the stuff you see people drinking at the gym) and what they’re good for. Right? Oh. So. Wrong.

Firstly, I should point out that a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutritional and Dietetic Medicine) is as it says on the tin - a medical qualification. As in, it’s entirely science based. The degree involves three years as a full-time student (or 6 years part-time), with much of the final year is spent in clinic with real patients who have actual nutritional concerns. Eep.

Entry requirements

Most universities and colleges offer direct entry i.e. no previous qualifications or experience required. You must be proficient in the English Language, but if you’ve mastered that, you just need a passion for wellbeing. The good news is, the college I chose gave me some online courses to read through in prep - to jog my memory on maths and science.

Structure

Admittedly, I should have researched the course a little more before signing my life away to biology text books for at least the next six years. Even as a part-time nutrition student, I’m looking at a minimum of 20 hours commitment per week. Here’s what my first semester (there’s two of these per year) looks like as a part-timer. If you’re studying full time, expect double the workload.

The History of Healing – online, 8-10 hours a week

Lectures are delivered online, where you spend the majority of the six hours a week looking at lecture slides on a YouTube vid with a lecturer talking you through them. Listen, take notes, repeat. Admittedly I take a lot of texting breaks, but most of the content is pretty interesting stuff. Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, vaccinations, the gore of the plague, and more. There’s also required readings for each lecture – around 2-4 hours a week.

Human Biological Science – on campus, 10-12 hours a week

Think cell division, neurotransmitters and sensory receptors. This is delivered in person via 2 x 3 hour lectures per week, plus you’ll need around 4-6 hours of personal study time for readings per week. NB: you’ll probably fall behind on this one at some stage, unless you take a liking to the librarian. Locking in regular evening and weekend sessions for reading is key, so you might want to warn your friends.

If you were full time, you’d also be covering:

Chemistry and Biochemistry, Sociology of Food, and Foundations of Communication and Counselling at the same time.

Assessments

There’s a nice mix of essays, forum contributions, online quizzes, and final term closed-book assessments across the subjects. They really do cater for everyone’s preferred learning and assessment style. Just be aware that because of this, there’s always an assessment of some kind falling due throughout the semester. That means a little less time on the weekend scrolling the interwebs, and a little more time reading journal articles.

Food for thought

If you’re serious about a career in holistic medicine, there are a few different routes you can take. Note that a Nutritionist is different to a Dietitian, and a Naturopath is different again. Spend a bit of time looking at the different disciplines to decide which is right for you, and what you see yourself doing when you graduate.

#goals

So is it worth it? Surprising myself as a write this, but the in-depth sciencey stuff is becoming more and more fascinating, which of course makes the study much easier. Bonus: at the end of the degree, I’ll be a qualified Clinical Nutritionist. That means I can open a private practice, or pursue a career in population health, media, nutritional counselling and more. I can talk with authority about kale, and know that it comes from grounded knowledge. More importantly, I will be able to help people feel better from the inside and offer helpful advice, which in my opinion, is worth more than six years with my head in the books.